The boredom seemed never-ending. I waited for 2 whole days without a case. Two whole days of sitting in a room with up to a hundred people. It seems there were 170 people jurors on some days, spread over 13 courts and 2 waiting areas. I brought a book like most people, but reading a book for hours on end when sitting in an uncomfortable chair wasn’t my idea of fun. Others brought papers, laptops, mp3 players and even a few PSPs and DS consoles. Over all the time I was there I ended up reading 3 books, one a mammoth as well.
I eventually got put on a case… it lasted for a couple of hours in the end until the judge said the case couldn’t continue… This was after we had been sworn in, returned to the waiting area, returned to wait outside the court, returned to the waiting area and then finally returned to court to be told it was finished. ARGH and back to the waiting room yet again.
The overall theme appears to be waiting. It must be hard to organise 12 jurors, a judge, 2 barristers, an usher, stenographer, court clerk, defendant and witnesses. We had multiple occasions where a train was late, or someone was ill, or it was hard to just get everyone together. At the time it seemed like a huge waste of money but when I actually got on a case I thought differently.
The case I was on was delayed multiple times, so much so that it took another 2 days to finish beyond the original 4 days. That’s another 2 days of waiting, sometimes in one place, sometimes in another. Throughout the case it was hard to reserve judgement and at one time I thought guilty, others not-guilty. The evidence given to us seemed incomplete and many questions asked (or not-asked) seemed odd or out of place. But after everything was said, things fitted neatly into place. The system I believe is a bit convoluted and very bureaucratic but overall it does the job well. The whole court system is set up to uphold the innocence until proven guilty, something I feel really strongly about considering all of the current anti-terrorism laws and liberties being slowly taken away. Even though this seems to be the case, the courts appear to be untouched.
I’m not allowed to talk about the case or what happened in the deliberation room. But I can say that although most jurors find it interesting, boring, exiting or overwhelming, inside the deliberation room all 12 of us argued and discussed the case with determination until we were unanimous. It took longer than most of us thought but everyone really cared about the outcome. We were dealing with someone’s freedom and we all felt, in the same circumstance, all of us would want a fair trial.
After the case we were released from Jury service a couple of days early, leaving the gap open for others to follow. I do have a top 10 tips for anyone reading if they get called up however.
- You might as well go along unless you have a concrete reason not to. It’s better to get it out of the way rather than defer a year and have it come at a really bad time. You can be called again immediately but can refuse if you’ve served in the last 2 years. One of the jurors there had been on jury service 5 times!
- Read all the stuff that comes with your summons, there is some useful info there, especially about expenses. You can normally claim up to a certain limit for loss of earnings and can claim almost all travel expenses (parking not normally included).
- You can take mobile phones with you, everyone does. When in court you just have to turn them off, the only time you can’t have them is during the final deliberation, but the usher normally looks after them for you.
- Take lots of stuff to keep you busy, books, magazines and papers are best. Laptops might be a bit difficult as you might not trust the usher to look after it when deliberating. You could potentially be there for 2 weeks and not get on any trial. As you saw above there were 170 jurors but only 13 courts, that leaves 14 people spare who may never sit.
- If you don’t want to be on a long trial then take documentary evidence. Take holiday booking confirmations, hospital appointments. If you would be extremely missed at work then get a headed letter explaining specific details, commitments etc. The judge has the final say on whether you sit on that 6-month trial or not, so make sure you’ve got a solid reason.
- Each juror gets £5.39 lunch allowance every-day. If you don’t use it at the end of the trial the money gets transferred into your bank account. I personally took sandwiches; they tasted better than the stuff in the jury canteen and were a hell of a lot cheaper.
- If you smoke, be prepared to get frustrated. You are not normally allowed out of the building except at lunch-time or with special permission. Also, you could potentially be inside for a lot longer. On the final day we went in to court at 10am and the judge finished summing up at 11am. We retired to consider our verdict but had to be locked away in a room with no phones until we could give the verdict. In the end we didn’t leave the court until about 3pm. That’s 5 hours locked inside!
- Don’t worry about what you wear, just go in whatever you want.
- Have a good night’s sleep, although you do a lot of waiting around when you do get into court, it can be just as boring. Trying to concentrate on a barrister talking at you for 80 minutes is very hard without being sleepy too.
- My final tip is one of caution. Try as hard as you can to wait before making a decision or at least keep an open mind throughout. The prosecution and defence back and forth can really change your view of a person or their evidence.
